Just in time for New York Fashion Week, Juergen Teller, the German-born photographer most known for his cheeky refusal to keep his ad campaigns for designers like Helmut Lang, Yves Saint Laurent, Vivienne Westwood, and Marc Jacobs distinct from his most intimate, non-commissioned images, has an exciting new show opening at Lehmann Maupin. “I don’t really see it as commercial work when I do commercial work,” he has explained. “I see it more like… Let’s say somebody wants to do an independent film, right? They have to cast actresses and choose locations and all that. So I’m just using this stuff to create my own fantasies and dreams.”
The exhibition gives a prime sample of Teller’s no-holds-barred approach to picture-taking, which at times has lent his work an air of contention. Divided into three groups, the first series of Teller’s show features alluring portraits of Vivienne Westwood (wearing nothing but her fiery red mane) and photos of model Kristen McMenamy, which were controversial for their purportedly “pornographic” quality. The second set, Men and Women, depicts what some see as representations of the stages of masculinity — from coming-of-age to loss of virility — as contrasted with female power. The third grouping, Keys to the House, features intimate shots of friends and family as well as landscape photos taken at Teller’s home in Suffolk, UK. Click through our slideshow for a sample of photos from this bold, racy, and beautiful show.
Today at Flavorpill, we watched a hilarious clip of Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog, Michael Stipe, and Martin Short playing “Password” on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. We were shocked to learn that Marc Jacobs’ entire spring 2012 collection was stolen from a train leaving Paris for London. We were not-so-subtly reminded why spoilers are bad thanks to these propaganda posters. We wished that more authors would make like Ann Patchett and open up their own bookstores. We were amazed by how this stylish apartment looks, even though it’s furnished completely in cardboard. We found this “walkable roller coaster” in Germany kind of baffling. We found it pretty amusing that our friends over at BuzzFeed organized a protest against People Magazine’s selection of Bradley Cooper as the 2011 Sexiest Man of the Year (and we completely agree with them that Ryan Gosling would have been a better choice). We were super excited to hear that Kristen Schaal is going to be in a few episodes of 30 Rock this season. And finally, after years of waiting, we got to see what Beyoncé’s wedding dress looked like. Thanks to a super-sized train, it did not disappoint.
You don’t normally think of the words “Dakota Fanning” and “scandal” in the same sentence — unless you count the time that Kathy Griffin made an inappropriate (but hilarious!) rehab joke about the then child star on the red carpet at the 2005 Golden Globes, and later had to apologize. But today The Guardianreports that a new ad for Marc Jacobs’ Lola perfume, which features an image of the 17-year-old sitting with a bottle of the fragrance between her legs, has been banned in the UK.
Why has this particular campaign been deemed “sexually provocative” by the Advertising Standards Authority? “We considered that the length of her dress, her leg, and position of the perfume bottle drew attention to her sexuality,” they say. “Because of that, along with her appearance, we considered the ad could be seen to sexualize a child. We therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible and was likely to cause serious offense.” They also feel like Fanning looks to be younger than she actually is. What do you think of the ad? Is the controversy warranted or is it just as “provocative” as what you normally come across in magazines?
Andy Warhol’s art was all about reappropriation and recontextualization, so the many pop-culture portrayals of the artist seem like the best possible tribute. Everyone from Guy Pearce to David Bowie has done Warhol on the big screen, and today an image of Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader playing the role in Men in Black III is making the rounds. (Side note: Anyone have a clue what Warhol is even doing in this movie?) Artists have also been known to don the white wig for conceptual commentaries on pop art — and, sometimes, celebrities get dolled up as Warhol just for kicks (or magazine covers). Check out some notable impersonations after the jump.
In the new foreword for Chronicle Books’ recent reissue of Diana Vreeland’s Allure, fashion designer Marc Jacobs writes, “I think no one has ever been like her. There have been many strong characters, but there’s never been another Diana Vreeland.” The book, which is a collection of images that inspired the famed fashion editor, alongside her commentary, which was tape recorded over the three years it took to put the collection together, gives readers an intimate glimpse into Vreeland’s brilliant mind. Thanks to her bizarre way with words — which her collaborator, Christopher Hemphill, attributes to an early childhood in Paris — it’s a beautiful tome on style that’s also immensely entertaining.
New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn is sick of punk. She is bored with hearing Sid Vicious’s version of “My Way” — a painfully appropriate cover that, in our opinion, never gets old. If she never had to see another safety pin, it would be too soon. The take-home, listeners of loud, snotty music, is that “punk is now a style cliché.” And the idea of Balmain putting a high-fashion price tag on a leather jacket covered in spikes is, frankly, “a joke — and not even a very clever one.” Got that, 15-year-old Johnny, with your ripped jeans and your mohawk?
For our part, we enjoyed the Balmain collection Horyn describes, which manages to balance punk and fashion in a fun, witty way. (In fact, there’s a pair of black-and-silver striped pants in there that we’ll probably dream about tonight.) And considering that designers have played a major part in the punk movement since its inception, we find it both historically ignorant and totally unimaginative to declare them antithetical to one another. What’s more, counterculture has provided inspiration for haute couture for as long as both have existed. After the jump, we review seven movements that have been co-opted, often to great effect, by high fashion.
While no one is going to argue against the practicality of Old Navy (hey, even tech vests had their moment), it is clear that high fashion is often wearable (or in the case of The Devil Wears Prada — quite unwearable) art. But sometimes even these threads can get upstaged (theatrically speaking), and fashion shows become more about over-the-top production than the clothes. Case in point: Chanel’s RTW Fall 2010 show, which featured a 265-ton iceberg that was imported from Scandinavia and handcarved by 35 ice sculptors. In that spirit, after the jump we’ve rounded up some of the most outrageous runways shots we could find. Recession, what?
Suffering from post-Fashion Week sartorial depression? Marc Jacobs has an offer that will make you smile again. Now through March 1, when you become a fan of Marc Jacobs and check in at any Marc Jacobs store on Foursquare, you unlock a special badge and receive a free gift with purchase.
Of course, we’re hooking you up too: We’re giving away a genuine Marc Jacobs Dancer Dancer bag — from the new 2010 collection — to one lucky reader! All you have to do is enter here by March 1.
Click through for images of more drool-worthy new bags from Marc Jacobs’ latest collection.
These days, loving fashion is as much a requisite of celebrity culture as lending your face to a charity, or dodging claims of plastic surgery. Whilst we applaud a well-dressed star, we get somewhat irate when some of them take it too far, believing that their acquiescence to the clutches of a stylist translates as raw artistic talent in the fashion business. What’s worse, many design houses are willing to not only put up with this charade but endorse it, believing that a collaboration with Mischa Barton/Jessica Simpson/Miley Cyrus (who all have careers that, to outsiders like us, have nothing to do with fashion) will attract highly-desired publicity or a new demographic to a brand. To that end, we decided to bring you the best and the worst fashion/celebrity collaborations of recent years. BE WARNED: some of it ain’t pretty…
